Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/25/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential steps, such omission amounting to a gap between the steps. See MPEP § 2172.01.
Regarding claim 1, the claim recites the following step:
- “utilizing the signal analyzing device to detect a total power of the intermodulation signal and the cancel tone signal, and controlling a phase of the cancel tone signal according to the total power, in order to minimize the total power in response to the phase of the cancel tone signal being modified to a target phase.”
The recitation: “in response to the phase of the cancel tone signal being modified to a target phase” appears to describe an event that isn’t positively connected to any preceding step. Moreover, as recited, it’s not clear whether the method requires the step of modifying the cancel tone signal to a target phase or not. A review of the Specification appears to indicate that the cancel tone phase modification is performed with the step of “controlling a phase of the cancel tone signal”. Therefore, for the purpose of examining the claims, the examiner interprets claim 1 as reciting:
- utilizing the signal analyzing device to detect a total power of the intermodulation signal and the cancel tone signal, and controlling a phase of the cancel tone signal thereby modifying the phase of the cancel tone signal to a target phase according to the total power of the intermodulation signal and the cancel tone signal, in order to minimize the total power of the intermodulation signal and the cancel tone signal.
A similar recitation in lines 3-4 of claim 5 includes the informalities noted above. The examiner suggests amending the claim in a manner similar to the suggested language above.
Claim 1-5 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 1, the claim recites in part:
- “utilizing the signal generator to further output a cancel tone signal and control a cancel power of the cancel tone signal according to the intermodulation power;”
In the recitation, it’s not clear what it’s meant by “control a cancel power”. It’s not clear how controlling the power of a signal is different from controlling a “cancel” power of a signal. The Specification doesn’t appear to define what’s the intended meaning of the phrase “cancel power”. For example, paragraph 005 of the Specification reads:
[0005] At least one embodiment of the present invention provides a method for measuring linearity of a tested circuit. The method comprises: utilizing a signal generator to output a first tone test signal and a second tone test signal to the tested circuit, wherein the tested circuit generates an intermodulation signal according to the first tone test signal and the second tone test signal; utilizing a signal analyzing device to receive the intermodulation signal and detect an intermodulation power of the intermodulation signal; utilizing the signal generator to further output a cancel tone signal and control a cancel power of the cancel tone signal according to the intermodulation power; and utilizing the signal analyzer to detect a total power of the intermodulation signal and the cancel tone signal, and controlling a phase of the cancel tone signal according to the total power, in order to minimize the total power in response to the phase of the cancel tone signal being modified to a target phase.
It appears the applicant meant to describe that the magnitude of power of the cancel tone signal is controlled. Thus, for the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets claim 1 as reciting:
- “utilizing the signal generator to further output a cancel tone signal and control power magnitude
Claim 3 also includes the recitation in line 3 and should be corrected in the manner suggested above. Claims 2-5 inherit the deficiencies in claim 6 noted above and are rejected for the same reasons.
Claims 6-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being incomplete for omitting essential structural cooperative relationships of elements, such omission amounting to a gap between the necessary structural connections. See MPEP § 2172.01.
Regarding claim 6, the claim recites:
- “wherein the signal analyzing device detects a total power of the intermodulation signal and the cancel tone signal, and the host device controls a phase of the cancel tone signal according to the total power, in order to minimize the total power in response to the phase of the cancel tone signal being modified to a target phase.”
The claim includes the recitation: “in response to the phase of the cancel tone signal being modified to a target phase” which, as recited, appears to describe an event that isn’t performed by any of the preceding introduced structural elements. That is, as recited, it’s not clear whether the apparatus includes a unit that modifies the cancel tone signal to a target phase or not. A review of the Specification appears to indicate that the modification is performed by the host device. Therefore, for the purpose of examining the claims as best understood, the examiner interprets claim 6 as reciting:
- wherein the signal analyzing device detects a total power of the intermodulation signal and the cancel tone signal, and the host device controls a phase of the cancel tone signal thereby modifying the phase of the cancel tone signal to a target phase according to the total power of the intermodulation signal and the cancel tone signal, in order to minimize the total power of the intermodulation signal and the cancel tone signal.
Claim 6-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 6, the claim recites in part:
- “the host device is configured to control a cancel power of the cancel tone signal according to the intermodulation power;”
In the recitation, it’s not clear what it’s meant by “control a cancel power”. It’s not clear how controlling the power of a signal is different from controlling a “cancel” power of a signal. The Specification doesn’t appear to define what’s the intended meaning of the phrase “cancel power”. As mentioned, in regards to claim 1 above, it appears the applicant meant to describe that the magnitude of power of the cancel tone signal is controlled. Thus, for the purpose of examination, the examiner interprets claim 6 as reciting:
- “the host device is configured to control power magnitude of the cancel tone signal according to the intermodulation power;”
Claim 8 also includes the recitation in line 3 and should be corrected in the manner suggested above. Claims 7-10 inherit the deficiencies in claim 6 noted above and are rejected for the same reasons.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 1-10 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Regarding claim 1, the prior art of record doesn’t teach alone or in combination a method for measuring linearity of a tested circuit including the step of utilizing the signal analyzing device to detect a total power of the intermodulation signal and the cancel tone signal, and controlling a phase of the cancel tone signal thereby modifying the phase of the cancel tone signal to a target phase according to the total power of the intermodulation signal and the cancel tone signal, in order to minimize the total power of the intermodulation signal and the cancel tone signal, in combination with all other elements recited.
As to claims 2-5, the claims are objected as they further limit claim 1 above.
Regarding claim 6, the prior art of record doesn’t teach alone or in combination an apparatus for measuring linearity of a tested circuit wherein the signal analyzing device detects a total power of the intermodulation signal and the cancel tone signal, and the host device controls a phase of the cancel tone signal according to the total power, in order to minimize the total power in response to the phase of the cancel tone signal being modified to a target phase, in combination with all other elements recited.
As to claims 7-10, the claims are objected as they further limit claim 6 above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
- The US Patent US 9,897,638 by Yeo et al., directed to a See figure below:
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- The US Patent Application Publication PGPub 2017/0230129 by Yoo et al., directed to a PIM detection apparatus comprising a sequence signal input unit configured to apply a sequence signal having a second frequency characteristic to the test target apparatus. A PIM detector is configured to receive a passive intermodulation signal from the test target apparatus, and to detect a delay time and a size of the PIM signal based on the sequence signal. A PIM position determiner is configured to determine a PIM occurrence position by using the delay time and the size of the PIM signal. See figure below:
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- The US Patent US 9,461,697 by Yu et al., directed to a transceiver coupled to an antenna comprising a band-pass filter coupled to the antenna for receiving a sampled signal that includes intermodulation components between two or more of an external signal, the transmission signal and the reception signal and a monitoring and cancellation circuit receiving the transmission signal, the reception signal and the sampled signal to cancel the intermodulation components. See figure below:
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- The US Patent Application Publication PGPub 2011/0234315 by Chen et al., directed to devices (linearizers) that obtain samples of signals output by a power amplifier and process the samples to produce a canceling signal that is applied onto or into an output of the power amplifier. The canceling signal is generated such that when applied to the output of the power amplifier, the canceling signal cancels or reduces at least a portion of the non-linearity components produced by the power amplifier. A controller can improve the correction of the non-linearity components by executing one or more tuning algorithms and adjusting settings of the linearizer based on the results of the algorithms. See figure below:
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- The US Patent US 7,876,867 by Filipovic et al., directed to techniques for detecting and mitigating intermodulation distortion. A device (e.g., a cellular phone) obtains digital intermodulation distortion and digitally determines intermodulation distortion in an input signal based on the digital intermodulation distortion. The device may condition the digital intermodulation distortion to obtain conditioned intermodulation distortion matching intermodulation distortion in the input signal and may then subtract the conditioned intermodulation distortion from the input signal. See figure below:
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Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Richard Isla whose telephone number is (571)272-5056. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday 9a - 5:30p.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Huy Phan can be reached at 571 272-7924. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/RICHARD ISLA/Primary Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2858 September 16, 2026
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